ROLLING STONE

Issue #974, May 19, 2005

REVIEWS | NEW CDs

Robert Earl Keen ***
What I Really Mean
Koch/Audium Nashville

Keen has always mitigated his soft twang and bluegrass instrumentation with singer-songwriterly gold sounds, but his twelfth album might be his breeziest yet: all midtempo remembrances and B-plus melodies that won’t expand his cult but won’t hurt his reputation as Texas’ ranking nice-guy poet.


ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Issue #820 - May 20, 2005

ROBERT EARL KEEN
What I Really Mean (Koch)
That life-of-the-Texas party known as Robert Earl Keen has grown up without growing dull. On Mean, he shows he’s still funny and acerbic, walking on the odd side in “The Great Hank” and “A Border Tragedy,” while solid roots rockers like “For Love” and the title track make more conventional use of his weathered baritone. Not quite as piquant or consistent as 2003’s Farm Fresh Onions, Keen’s 11th CD nevertheless sustains a winning streak of highly individual and creative mid-career work.

-- Craig Havighurst



USA TODAY


Country:

Robert Earl Keen ,What I Really Mean (* * * ) You have to admire a country singer who'll write about a drag queen singing the Hank Williams catalog, especially when the same guy can write something as touching as What I Really Mean . Throughout, this Texan balances his stranger notions — such as the vivid A Border Tragedy , which features a cameo from Ray Price — with more conventional fare such as the country-rocker The Wild Ones . But whatever he's singing, it sticks with you. — Brian Mansfield



AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN

Keen satisfies a hunger even a burger can't fill

Web posted: May 3, 2005

Robert Earl Keen: "What I Really Mean"
(Koch)

Waco is for cheeseburgers. Whenever I drive to or from Dallas, I always eat in the city at the midpoint. Kitok, the best in Texas, if I have time, or Cupp's Drive In, right off the freeway, if I'm in a hurry.
But on a recent drive north, I didn't stop. Couldn't stop. I had Robert Earl Keen's wonderful new banjo and steel guitar-driven CD blasting, and I wanted to play it all the way through.

"What I Really Mean" is a journey unto itself, full of Hill Country pop rockers such as "For Love I Did It" and "The Wild Ones," twisted hallucino-country ("The Great Hank"), a ditty set in the 12th century ("The Traveling Storm"), a mariachi-colored spring break waltz ("A Border Tragedy") and a free 'n' easy LP wrapper-upper ("Ride, Ride, Ride") that could've come from an old Guy Clark album.

The album's high point, however, is the title track, which tackles that most clichéd of all subjects -- life on the road with a band -- and turns it into a sweet and clever "missing you" song.

He might have made his name with outlandishly funny and drawn out story songs such as "The Road Goes On Forever" and "Merry Christmas From the Family," but Keen is best when he works the small details, the dog tags on the dresser, nachos at 3 a.m. and how nothing brings it back like a VW bug. The most skippable cuts on the album, which hits stores Tuesday, are the ones like "Mr. Wolf and Mamabear" (aka "The Animals Go On Forever") and "A Border Tragedy" that recall his best-known work.

Give me farm-fresh numbers such as "Long Chain," a song of a mysterious visit from a man of sorrow, made spookier by Danny Barnes' banjo. Another somber standout is "Dark Side of the World," where heartbreak leads to suicide and Keen reaches for everything he has vocally, which isn't much, but he's lost in the tale and doesn't care.

Produced by Rich Brotherton, who also helmed the underrated previous LP "Farm Fresh Onions," and featuring Keen's touring band, "What I Really Mean" drips with the confidence of savvy musicians who know what will work. Strange mixing choices, like bringing the steel guitar way up on "For Love I Did It," and unorthodox instrumentation (the title track is a tangle of banjo and soprano sax) actually elevate the lyrics more than they detract.

Hunger hit me hard in Hillsboro, and a liplocker with cheese and Oriental fries from Kitok sounded real good. But as with Keen and his band at this juncture of their music making, there was no turning back.
— Michael Corcoran



BILLBOARD

ALBUM REVIEW

ROBERT EARL KEEN
Album Title: What I Really Mean
Producer(s): Rick Brotherton
Genre: ROCK
Label/Catalog Number: Koch Records Nashville
Originally Reviewed: May 14, 2005

Whimsical storytelling is one of this cheerful Texas troubadour's gifts, which is in great evidence on "What I Really Mean." "The Great Hank" is an expertly told, funny and rueful dream of Williams alive, in drag, in Philadelphia. Robert Earl Keen's road-tested band, led by guitarist/producer Rick Brotherton, keeps him on sure footing whether he is running spiritual ("Long Chain"), dissipated ("A Border Tragedy," with the great Ray Price as guest) or metaphorical ("Mr. Wolf and Mama Bear"). Keen often places himself as both a character and observer, giving his tales a three-dimensional richness. He also delivers the most commercial country material of his career (Brooks & Dunn-ish on "The Wild Ones," Big & Rich-like on "Broken End of Love") without sacrificing the intelligence and integrity that have brought this much-loved cult figure to the cusp of something bigger and richer. —Wayne Robins




WASHINGTON POST

Quick Spins

Wednesday, May 11, 2005; C05

WHAT I REALLY MEAN
Robert Earl Keen

Since 1984 Robert Earl Keen has issued records that stick to a tried-and-true formula. His first, "No Kinda Dancer," set the template: catchy story songs, earnest ballads and wry whimsical numbers, all played by musicians who believe in the material.

Thirteen albums later, the Texas mainstay does it again, and while the new collection may break no new ground in Lone Star music, it's another terrific disc, one that plays to Keen's increasing strengths. It's a fine choice for those searching for country music with character and authenticity.

"For Love" starts things off with a brisk beat and a catchy acoustic guitar riff, the song fills in with steel guitar, banjo, piano and organ, topped off with soaring harmonies at the bridge. The song lingers hours after you listen to it. Keen nails it again with "The Wild Ones," a jangly tune that's perfect for rolling down the pickup windows and singing along with the chorus.

The title track is beautiful, as Keen describes to his wife the highlights of being on the road, each verse finishing with "What I really mean, I wish you were here." The interplay between Danny Barnes (of the Bad Livers) on banjo and John Mills on soprano sax heightens the sincerity of the lyric, somehow managing to defy sappiness.

Whimsy is provided by "A Border Tragedy," an intentional mess of a mariachi-based version of "Streets of Laredo," with Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Price showing up to sing a single line.

-- Buzz McClain